Teaching in Denmark #1

The coming week I will be teaching philosophy in Denmark, and I intend to write about it on this blog. I will be teaching 13-15 year olds, who are in regular school in a village called Hundested. Coming from the Netherlands, I am curious to see the education system from more of an insider perspective!

For now, I have already noticed that the organization aspect is quite different from what I am used to. In the Netherlands, if I would come to a school as a guest teacher (especially for this age category), everything would be arranged in detail a few weeks or more before the course starts. In Denmark on the other hand, up until last friday I did not even know who I was going to teach exactly and it was mostly because I was in the school to do some printing and ran into some of the teachers that I found out that I will have two groups; the local-global class from 8.00-11.00 and a selection of three students who have the best level in English of their class from 12.00-15.00 (although I am not exactly sure about these times either).

Preparation for this week’s philosophy course

I have been enthusiastic about the flexibility of the Danish curriculum before, however experiencing this flexibility from up close like this has been challenging for me (and quite an insightful confrontation with myself too), as I usually like to be well-prepared. It is an exercise in letting go, and just go with the flow!

On the social side, which I was equally enthusiastic about before as being so important in Danish education, I got to experience this right away firsthand. Everyone has been incredibly friendly and open, willing to help with anything I need, coming over for drinks and inviting me to social events (most notably last friday’s teacher’s party). One of the teachers is allowing me to stay in her wonderful summer cottage (pictures below), and I feel so lucky and blessed to be here.

Tomorrow I will start the first class, so let’s hope all goes well…

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